“Love is in the Air” contest winner Natalie Lloyd

Here is the winning entry:

It was a fall weekend in 2003. I was 19 years old and a junior in college. Home for the weekend, I headed to the local YMCA to exercise.

I chose a treadmill and began to run. During my summers off from college, I worked at the YMCA as a lifeguard and swim instructor and recognized many people as I looked around the gym. Lifting weights with two men that I recognized, a young guy that I had never seen before caught my eye. Muscular and fit, he held my attention through my entire workout.

As I was leaving the gym that day, I stopped to speak to one of the men that I knew and was introduced to Rob, my husband-to-be.

Intrigued by this muscular young man, I began coming home from college more frequently and spending more and more time at the YMCA in hopes that I might see him again. I logged in many miles on the treadmill and hours lifting weights, while I watched Rob exercise and hoped that he might notice me.

With some prompting from his friends, Rob did notice me. He and I began to talk often at the YMCA. In late December 2003, Rob asked me out for our first date – dinner and a movie. In January 2005, just before my 21st birthday, we were engaged. On August 6, 2005, we were married.

Rob and I celebrated eight years of marriage this past August (2013). We currently live in Stanfield with our three children and one dog. We both still enjoy running and lifting weights. Occasionally when we have the chance to go to the gym together without children, I think about that time when I was 19 and I fall in love all over again.